


Nickel

by DestinysBounty (MVPYurio)



Series: Coalescence [1]
Category: Lego Ninjago
Genre: Bad Puns, Birthday, Birthday Fluff, Bisexuality, Everyone Is Gay, Gay, Guitars, M/M, Music, Overprotective Kai, Picnics, Serenading, Songwriting, so much gay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-24
Updated: 2017-09-24
Packaged: 2019-01-04 23:10:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12178308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MVPYurio/pseuds/DestinysBounty
Summary: It's Lloyd's birthday, and Micah needs to think on his feet to get him a birthday present.





	Nickel

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hollyus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hollyus/gifts), [whichlights](https://archiveofourown.org/users/whichlights/gifts).



> A few announcements:
> 
> 1\. This fic features an original song that I actually wrote myself, called Nickel. You can listen to it [here](https://clyp.it/qm34gimj#). In the spirit of full disclosure, I did have Micah and Lloyd in mind when I wrote it. But in fairness, they were not the ONLY people I thought of when I wrote it.  
> 2\. I was lucky to receive help on this, from Holly (Ao3: hollyus, Tumblr: general-nartis/volcaniclightningshipping) as a beta and from Rose (Ao3: whichlights, Tumblr: witchlightsands) as both a beta and a writer of about two hundred words of this towards the beginning. And, of course, Micah is Rose's character, so thanks for that!  
> 3\. I feel like this shouldn't need reiterating, but greenwhatsits are NOT allowed to touch my shit.
> 
>  
> 
> ****UPDATE 11/5/2017****
> 
>  
> 
> This is the first installment of Coalescence, a fun new AU thing by myself and Rose. In this 'verse, Ninjago is a separate planet from Earth, outside of our solar system but not by much, that a bunch of humans flew out to and populated. So technically, the ninja and co are "human." Elemental powers came from the planet itself because *jazz hands*
> 
> As for ages: Micah and Lloyd are 15, Nya is 17, and Kai and the other ninja are all between 19 and 21.

"This is Lloyd Garmadon, Green Ninja. Leave your name, number, and emergency at the beep."

Micah snorted. He had heard Lloyd’s voicemail at least five billion times, but somehow it still made him laugh. He forgot sometimes that not all superheroes had secret identities.

“Hey, it’s me… uhhhh, so you may have noticed that I was really stupid and totally completely forgot your birthday and it’s possible that Kai angrily texted me—” (he yawned )“—about twelve hours agai—oh, crap, he didn’t want me to tell you about that… oops… anyway—” (another yawn) “—anyway, I have to make it up to you so d’you wanna hang out later today? Yeah um yeah so text me? Okay bye.”

Micah chucked his phone at the bed. It landed with a thud. “I fucking hate phone calls.”

Micah sat on the floor and leaned against his bed. Not all superheroes had secret identities. Lloyd could create a sparkly tornado of fighting. His life was so bizarre and Micah understood about two percent of it.

His guitar was leaning against the wall. It was one a.m. An idea that was so crazy it might actually work started to form in his head.

Usually, writing a song took him two days. Could he do it in only a few hours…?

Well, only one way to find out. He grabbed his guitar, tuned it, and started coming up with ideas…

~~~~

_Seven hours later…_

“Hey, Micah, you called late. Everything okay?"

Micah yawned. He hadn’t really meant to pick up the phone, to be perfectly honest.

“Oh… hi… yeah um, yeah, I’m fine…” He yawned again. “Yeah, everything… everything’s fine. I just wanted to hang out later today.”

“Dude, you seem really exhausted. We can take a rain check—”

“—Definitely not,” Micah said firmly. “I wanna see you—” (yawn) “—today. Lemme just catch a few hours of sleep, and then we can hang out.”

“If you’re sure…”

“Totally sure. I’ll text you in a few hours, okay?”

"Kay. Bounty good?"

"Perfect. Awesome. Night."

"It's eight in the morning."

"Morning. I'm going to sleep now."

The line went dead with a low beep. Lloyd put his phone down, chuckling softly. He had no idea why Micah had called him at one in the morning, nor why he sounded such a mess at eight, but hey, that was probably nothing on some of the random voicemails Lloyd had left him at ass o’clock…

Lloyd walked into the kitchen and stole a coffee mug from Kai. "Mine now. Hey what's in here?"

"Peppermint hot chocolate."

"You drink coffee, black."

"Yeah, I knew you'd steal it. Birthday hype only gets you a couple days, kiddo."

“Thanks,” said Lloyd, taking a sip. “Okay, be honest. Did you yell at Micah about something?”

“Why?” Kai asked.

“Well, he called me at like one in the morning…”

“That motherfucker,” Kai muttered. “I explicitly told him NOT to tell you.”

“Kai. What in the fresh hell did you do?”

“… nothing! Hey, I think Zane’s up. I can get him to make you pancakes—“

“—Kai, tell me what you did, right now, or I will kick your ass.”

“You’re half my size.”

“I’ll have Nya help.”

“… okay, okay, I was trying to give him a friendly reminder that it was your birthday and he should get you a present, but I may have left out the ‘friendly’ part…”

Lloyd groaned. "Kai, I don't give a shit about my birthday. Don't scare my boyfriend over it. Also, one day I'm gonna be taller than you, so shut up."

“Please.”

“I will!” Lloyd insisted.

“Whatever helps you sleep at night,” said Kai. “You need it. But anyway, if you think for a _second_ that I don’t care about my little brother’s birthday, then you are ding-a-dong wrong about me, little fuckface.”

“Some older brother you are,” Lloyd muttered. “You were saying, about pancakes?”

“You know Zane makes them best.”

“… theeeeennnn, are we gonna go find him?”

“Definitely. Just don't be an ass to my crush.”

“So long as you’re not an ass to mine.”

“No promises, kid.”

Lloyd groaned and flipped Kai the bird.

~~~~

_Three hours later…_

“Micah? Micah, what’s going on? You never sleep this late.”

Sinnia gently pushed open the door to her brother’s room. “You alive in th—oh.”

Micah seemed peaceful, curled up asleep on his bed, but his room was everything but. Papers were strewn everywhere, his electric piano was plugged in and on, and his half-sized acoustic was in the middle of the floor.

Micah had a habit of laying his guitar on top of her gig bag in the corner of the room since he practiced so often, but the only time he dared leave it in the middle of the room is if he was still using it.

There was only one explanation for this tornado of chaos: Micah had been songwriting, at ass o’clock in the morning.

Sinnia picked one of the papers off of the floor. It read “Nickel” at the top and had a little sketch of a familiar face in the upper right hand corner.

“Tornado of chaos” was becoming more and more of an apt description.

“Alright, you’re gonna hate yourself for not cleaning up,” Sinnia said quietly, picking up the guitar and putting it in the corner on top of her gig bag and organizing the papers.

“Mmmnnnggghhhhh,” Micah mumbled. He rubbed his eyes and sat up. “The fuck are you doing in my room?”

“Cleaning up, so you won’t bang your head against the wall for not doing so before you passed out. What’s the song?”

“Covering my ass,” said Micah. “I forgot to get Lloyd a birthday present—”

“—Typical—”

“—and so I wrote him a song instead.”

“That’s adorable,” said Sinnia. “Test it out on me? I bet you want the practice.”

“I do,” said Micah. “Not gonna say that testing out a love song on my little sister isn’t weird, but whatever. I need the practice.”

He yawned, walked over to his guitar, and started to play.

“Holy shit,” Sinnia said when he was done. “That’s your best work by far.”

“Thanks, sis.”

“Now come downstairs, and let’s pack a lunch.”

“Let’s what?”

“You want to go on a birthday picnic with your boy, don’t you?”

Micah grinned. “Sinnia, you’re the best.”

**[[greenie]]**

Whatever you do, DO NOT eat lunch before you get here.

ok... not ominous at all????

Okay, that came out a bit intense  
I wanted to have a picnic with you!

this was either your sister’s idea or mine and i know it

For all you know, it was your brother’s  
Or Jay’s  
Or Cole’s  
Or Zane’s

i love how you haven’t mentioned that it could have been yours

We both know that my head is too up my ass for that shit

it sure is!!!!  
ily

Love you too, greenie <3

jfc micah USE A FUCKING EMOJI  
even my technology hating brother uses those  
come by in like an hour?

Sure

wanna have the picnic on the bounty or???

There’s a park just outside of New New New New New New New New New New New New New New New New Ninjago City that I thought we could check out

how many times was that?

Fifteen  
Like New New New New New New New New New New New New New New New New York  
… you’ve never seen Doctor Who, have you?

doctor what now?

As soon as we’re done with our picnic, we’re going to the Bounty  
And watching the best television ever to come from the UK.

duly noted  
see you in an hour

Seeya, greenie <3

oh for FUCKS SAKE

~~~~

An hour later, Micah was standing in the back parking lot of the hold Hot Dog Queen, waiting somewhat impatiently. (What? He wanted to see his boyfriend.)

“C’mon, Lloyd,” he muttered. He shifted his gig bag on his shoulders.

Just then, a familiar shadow fell over the area. Micah grinned, still standing in the middle of the parking lot, daring whoever was flying the boat to land directly on him.

“You asshole!” someone shouted from on board—Micah couldn’t tell who.

“You know it!” Micah shouted back.

“Just move so we can land the damn ship!”

Micah stepped out of the way, leaning against the wall of the old fast-food joint. “Okay, you’re good,” he called. He plugged his ears as the ship landed in front of him.

“Okay, who called me an asshole?” he asked.

“Who d’you think?” Kai waved a hand from where he was standing.

Micah rolled his eyes. “Typical.”

“Oh, screw off.” Lloyd appeared behind Kai, seemingly out of nowhere. “How much will it take for you to stop being mean to my boyfriend?”

“Aw, c’mon, you all know that I mean no harm,” said Kai. “Come on board, Micah.”

“Hey,” said Lloyd as Micah came up to him. He leaned over and kissed Micah’s cheek. “Is that your guitar? Why did you bring her?”

“You’ll find out,” said Micah. “Ready for our picnic?”

“Is the place close to here?” Lloyd asked. “We can walk, if you want.”

“Yeah, it’s only a ten minute walk or so,” Micah replied.

“Then let’s go,” said Lloyd. He came closer and whispered into Micah’s ear, _“I wanna get away from my loser brother.”_

“I heard that!” Kai protested.

~~~~

“Okay, I gotta know,” said Lloyd. “What did you bring your guitar for?”

They were sitting on a purple blanket in the grass, eating the lunch Sinnia had packed for them.

“Well, I made a bit of an idiot move,” Micah admitted. “I didn’t get you a present.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” said Lloyd. “Did Kai get pissed at you?”

“Maybe a little. But it’s okay!” he said quickly when Lloyd narrowed his eyes. “Because I came up with an alternate idea.”

“Yeah?”

“I… well, I wrote you a song,” said Micah. “Last night, at about one in the morning.”

“You wrote me a song in twelve hours?”

“I mean… more like six since I slept some and had to practice and make lunch and… but yeah, it was a quick process. So it may not be that good—”

Lloyd laid a finger on Micah’s lips. “I’m sure it’s amazing,” he said. “And besides, you wrote it.”

“I can’t say I have it perfect,” said Micah. “I only had a few hours to practice.” He tuned his guitar quickly, put his capo on the first fret, grabbed a pick, and started to play.

 _So it seems your situation’s_  
_Full of complications, and frustrations,_  
_No-o-o-o-o-o-o-o_ _  
_ O-o-o-o-o-o-o-o?

 _Twists and turns like snakes in the road_  
_And ups and downs like a TV episo-o_  
_O-o-o-o-o-o-o-o_ _  
_ O-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-de

“Did you just fucking reference the Serpentine?” Lloyd asked. Micah winked, still singing.

 _And there are words that you say_  
_That I could not define_  
_But that’s all okay_ _  
_ As long as you’re mine

“Awww,” Lloyd cooed, beaming.

 _If I had a nickel_  
_For every time I was confused_  
_I’d have a couple nickels_ _  
_ On top of the 500,372

 _I never quite understand_  
_What the heck is going on_  
_But it seems pretty important_ _  
_ So I’ll go along with it, I’ll go along with it

 _I’ll go along with it, I’ll go along with it_  
_I’ll go along with it, I’ll go along with it_ _  
_ For you

“Fuck, that’s gay,” said Lloyd.

 _Did I really say that many nickels?_  
_Well I guess that that makes “cents”_  
_I could pay off my student loans_ _  
_ And buy us ice cream with the difference

Lloyd didn’t have time to snort and make commentary about economic injustice, as Micah was still singing.

 _And after that, we could take a little walk_  
_In the park, long after dark and we could talk_  
_And after that, I would know a little more_ _  
_ Understand the shit at hand, better than I had before

“We can do that,” said Lloyd.

 _If I had a nickel_  
_For every time I was confused_  
_I’d have a couple nickels_ _  
_ On top of the 500,372

 _I never quite understand_  
_What the heck is going on_  
_But it seems pretty important_ _  
_ So I’ll go along with it, I’ll go along with it

 _I’ll go along with it, I’ll go along with it_  
_I’ll go along with it, I’ll go along with it_ _  
_ For you

From the beginning of the song to this point, the song had been bright, happy. Lloyd had been mentally comparing it to country music. But then, suddenly, it seemed to become darker.

 _And hey, it’s okay_  
_I know there are things that take awhile to fade away_  
_And I can’t understand_ _  
_ Half of the things that you’ve witnessed firsthand

Lloyd bit his lip. Micah was right. There was a lot of shit in his life.

 _But hey, you’ll be okay_  
_Look left, look right, there are so many here to stay_  
_And I’ll stay on the sidelines_ _  
_ You’ll be fine, you’ll be fine

 _I’ll stay on the sidelines_  
_You’ll be fine, you’ll be fine_  
_I’ll stay on the sidelines_ _  
_ You’ll be fine, you’ll be fine

 _I’ll stay, I’ll make it clear_  
_Look left, look right, there are so many people here_ _  
_ So many people here, so many people here

At this point, Lloyd was close to tears. He had always worried whether Micah was okay with the fact that so much of Lloyd’s life had to be a secret, that there was so little Micah could really do to help, that in the end Micah just _wasn’t part of his world._

Apparently, Micah was okay with all of that.

 _If I had a nickel_  
_For every time I was confused_  
_I’d have a couple nickels_ _  
_ On top of the 500,372

 _I never quite understand_  
_What the heck is going on_  
_But it seems pretty important_ _  
_ So I’ll go along with it, I’ll go along with it

 _I’ll go along with it, I’ll go along with it_  
_I’ll go along with it, I’ll go along with it_ _  
_ For you

 _If I had a nickel_  
_For every time I was confused_  
_I’d have a couple nickels_ _  
_ On top of the 500,372

 _I never quite understand_  
_What the heck is going on_  
_But it seems pretty important_ _  
_ So I’ll go along with it, I’ll go along with it

 _I’ll go along with it, I’ll go along with it_  
_I’ll go along with it, I’ll go along with it_ _  
_ For you

 _I’ll go along with it for you_  
_I’ll go along with it for you_ _  
_ I’ll go along with it for you

Micah played the last few chords and put his guitar down. “Happy birthday,” he said quietly.

“Micah,” Lloyd whispered, tears forming. “That was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Shit, are you crying?” Micah asked. “Fuck, you’re crying. Are you okay?”

“You’re amazing,” said Lloyd. “You’re just. You’re amazing. I love you so much.”

“I love you too,” said Micah. “Good birthday present?”

“Great birthday present,” said Lloyd. “But the best birthday present is that I get to hang out with the best boyfriend in the universe.”

“I dunno,” said Micah. “Your brother and the other ninja all seem pretty perfect for each other.”

”They’re not even dating yet.”

”Exactly. And Zane is basically an angel.”

“A Zanegel?” Lloyd asked, grinning.

“Oh, fucking hell, that was an awful pun.”

“I’m bi; what can I say?”

Micah laughed and kissed Lloyd’s nose. “I’m glad you liked your present, greenie.”

“I loved it. Now… back to the Bounty? I wanna watch that show you were talking about.”

“For sure,” said Micah. “Let’s do it.”

**Author's Note:**

> find me on tumblr @she-doesnt-even-ninjagohere, @nice-message-brightshipping, as mod lia @justgreenstormthings, and as mod allura @queenshippingofficial!


End file.
